Mark 10:35-45
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Introduction
Many of us have taken trips or gone on vacations. When we travel on unfamiliar roads, we need directions or a road map. Road maps show interstate highways 4-lane roads, 2-lane roads, and narrow country roads. These roads join our cities and neighborhoods and connect our country together. What happens when fail to follow the road signs? Well, We could end up at the wrong place. If we read the map we end up at our destination.
No matter how ambitious, we might become, the map serves to prevent us from getting off course, from getting distracted and losing our way, if you will. Likewise, the world’s system has certain safeguards for those seeking to advance in their careers. One caveat to becoming successful, regardless of how ambitious a person is, is that you do the job you’ve been assigned well.
One could argue that Governor Bobby Jindal got off course. He became so enamored with the thought of becoming president of the United States until he got distracted by an appeal to the masses and did not do his job as Governor of Louisiana well. People can get you off course when you’re ambitious despite how humble you may be. When you stop completing your main assignment and start looking beyond the horizons to your next objective you end up forfeiting your future due to an inconsistent application of your entire faculties to the present assignment. Lord, have mercy!
Move 1
Likewise, in the kingdom of God, there are safeguards to ambition. Some recently tried to place aspirations of a bishop in my view. But right now I am a presiding elder, trying to apply all my faculties to doing that job well. Can you imagine me praying to become a bishop in the church rather than asking God to lead me to be the best presiding elder I could become? Well, there are those in the kingdom who have left focus on what they are to seek a position in the kingdom where they think they belong. I’m just so glad to have made it to this plateau by the grace of God.
Some of you know what I’m talking about. I have been through some storms in my life that have threatened to destroy me but God. I’ve had some good days; I’ve had some bad days, but God. Being a good church member and then becoming a pastor, I’ve had some rough episodes in this ministry, but God. I thought I would quit, faint, roll over, and play dead, but God. I tell you that at no time was I praying to be a bishop, I was praying Lord, help me to hold out right where I am now until the end. Hallelujah! I tell you ambition is lofty but obedience and submission to the will of God are better. Lord, have mercy! What are you saying Reverend, I’m saying we have to learn to stay in our lane; to be content to give God our everything right where we are without worrying about what we’ll be doing ten years from now. All of that my friends is in the hands of the Lord!
Ambition causes a person to be ever looking toward the future, toward the next step, but God didn’t tell us he was going to use us in the first place. He just called us out of darkness into his marvelous light and we were satisfied in Jesus. Then ambition fueled by the exercise of our gifts and the leanings of others, caused us to lose focus on the now. Lord, have mercy!
How often do we complicate God’s will by demanding to know what God would not have us know at the time? Before long we will complicate ourselves into paralysis. Since we can’t know everything, we don’t do anything. But beloved, we simply cannot know all that God is doing. God will be trusted for who he is not what he can prove.
Deuteronomy 29:29 teaches us that spiritual things must be revealed. It reads, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” In other words, walk in the lane God has you in now and when God reveals the next stage then move in that stage. Hallelujah!
Move 2
Beloved, we must control our focus. Look at John the Baptist in prison, but he stayed focused. He didn’t ask about his future position in the kingdom, he asked “Art thou the Christ or should we look for another.” Paul, the Apostle, was under house arrest in Jerusalem, but he stayed focused, preaching the gospel even in prison. Shipwrecked, beaten, and ran out of town, but he stayed focused. Beloved, we must control our focus.
James and John lost focus. Look at the text: 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” They lost focus; they took their eyes off the present assignment and started looking with bold, brash ambition toward the future. Who were these two men?
James– Short tempered, ambitious, judgmental deeply committed to Jesus, wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village, the first disciple to be martyred- Jesus called him a son of thunder, that he would become a fisher of men, and that he would drink from the cup that Jesus drank (willing to die for the Gospel) But He misunderstood Jesus’ purpose; he had a limited view of what Jesus was doing on the earth, yet he was willing to die. In other words, James was a good disciple with a bright future in the kingdom, but James made a crucial mistake, fueled by ambition rather than by service.
And then there was John– Ambitious, short-tempered, judgmental, very loving- Jesus called him a son of thunder, that he would become a fisher of men, and that he would drink the cup that Jesus drank (willing to die for the Gospel). And John along with his brother made the same mistake.
Both of them lost focus and began to ask for positions in the kingdom rather than serving in the kingdom and allowing the will of God to be revealed. Our Bishop often talks about his journey to becoming a bishop. He never sought the office because based on his menial upbringing in Oakland, MS, he never dreamed of such a future in the kingdom. He kept his eyes on the blessings of the NOW. Sure he may have admired the office, thought well of those in the office, but actively seeking the position, in order to qualify and obtain the position, no. That my friends, was an act of God revealed in the fullness of time. You and I can do no different; we must serve God with excellence right where we are and let God reveal in God’s own time the next stage of our ministry if there be any. Paul, exclaimed, “I have learned to be content in whatever stage I’m in in this kingdom ministry and I employ you, do likewise.
Jesus, in our text, teaches them and us to stay focused. Jesus responds in verses 38-40, “38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
Here is a man who knew that he was born to die for the sins of the whole world. As he waited for the day to come, he had several encounters with the people he would one day die to save. Yet he stayed focused on the present. Jesus healed the sick, cast out demonic spirits, raised the dead, freed the enslaved, and made disciples. Jesus was told things as he needed to know and he only saw what God wanted him to see when God wanted him to see it. Although every detail was not understood, He continued toward His destiny. Jesus as a human being learned to stay in his lane; he learned that some moves in our Christin walk are orchestrated by God and God alone, ambition will not take you there. So that one day you too will say, but by the grace of God, but God. Hallelujah!
Losing focus based on blind ambition can have dire consequences. There is a commercial on TV where a mother was taking her daughter to school on a two-way street. The mother received a text message with pictures of her daughter’s dance recital and took her eyes off the road for 6-10 seconds. During that time the mother drifted over into the other lane and had a head-on collision with an F150. She got distracted.
The story is told of the Flying Wallendas, a family of aerialists and tightrope walking. Their daredevil circus act became famous for performing death-defying stunts without a safety net. Although this family had faced several tragic accidents, they weren’t enough to prevent them from continuing with their stunts. Founder Karl Wallenda said “Life is being on the wire, everything else is waiting. It was this philosophy which led 73-year-old Karl Wallenda to walk between two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 121 feet above the pavement. The winds that day exceeded 30 miles per hour, which led to his death.
His wife recaps the events surrounding that day: “I knew something was going to go wrong. For the first time in 67 years, Karl had become more focused on falling instead of on walking the tightrope. He personally supervised the attachment of the guide wires.
Most of the time, the difference between success and failure is found in the direction in which we are focused. Realizing and accepting that “it’s a God Thing” increases your potential to stay in your lane thereby arriving at your destination. Jesus wanted his disciples; Jesus calls us to stay focused.
Move 3
Not only can moving based on ambition cause you to get off course, but it can also cause division among others that you serve alongside. Listen to what happened when the plot of James and John became known. The text in verse 41 says, “41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Sometimes you just need to keep your ambition to yourself. When people hear that you are bucking for the bishop or the pastorate of some prestigious congregation, animosity will arrive right on the hills of your pronouncement. I don’t want to spend too much time here, but let me add that when God reveals your next step, he will reveal it through leadership and others so that this angst can be reduced. The other disciples became indignant, mad, fueled by anger and I’m sure old cussing Peter had a few words to say. Hallelujah!
But what was Jesus’ response? Well, Mark 10:42-45 says, “42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
My point is as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.” Jesus use this division among his disciples as a teaching moment. Jesus says to them, yes, you are filled with potential, even the potential for greatness. God has gifted each of you, but your focus is off. Rather than seek positions of glory, seek positions of service.
Beloved, be cautioned about blind ambition, trying to promote self rather than the savior. Be careful when you plot and scheme to get the next blessing; rather let go and let God open doors for you. I believe that if you take the way of service, you will discover there is no better position to obtain in this life. I declare that God will lead you if but follow. And one thing is certain, you can’t do anything with excellence trying to focus on more than one objective at a time.
When a lion tamer enters the cage of lions, he carries both whips and pistols. However, it is said that the most important tool the lion tamer carries in his stool. Why is that the most important? I’m glad you asked. Because the lions become confused when trying to focus on all four legs at the same time and are quickly overwhelmed with a sense of paralysis when their attention is divided. When you enter the world as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ be focused and beloved. Do that which God has assigned your hands to do with the full presence of all your faculties with no thought of who or what you will be tomorrow or where you will sit in the kingdom. Be great; be a servant; in Jesus’ Name.
BARRIER BREAKING ENTERPRISES 